The history of Unity High School in Khartoum, Sudan told through the words and pictures of the Unity High School Archive, dating back to 1902.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

An Exchange of Emails Between Steve Gooch and Hafiz Kheir - March and April 2013

From: Steve Gooch

To:

Sent: Monday, 1 April 2013, 16:05

Subject: Sudan Embassy

Hi Hafiz,

I thought I would
drop you a line. We met outside the Sudanese Embassy having a smoke on Sunday.
Hope you remember me. I hope your family wedding went ok!

I am interested in your area of work and what it is you
actually do in the media. I think you might be interested in my story from
Sudan of Unity High School and how it was stolen by the Bishop of Khartoum on
the back of the disappearance of a donation to the church by the British Royal
Family back in the 70's...there is plenty of info and documentation here if you
want to take a look:

http://unitykhartoum.blogspot.com/search/label/Corruption%20in%20the%20School
If you follow that 'corruption in the school' tag you will find a lot of very
interesting info that is all pretty much cross-referenced. The Director of the
school has already been in jail twice over this but seems to have been let out
on both occasions. It would be interesting to know what the school has done
with the $4,000,000 that it had in its bank accounts at the end of the tenure
of Principal Dr Marina Hitchen also.

Anyway, I thought you
might be interested in that story. I am working on turning it into a novel
right now.

But that aside, it is
always good to connect up with other writers and creative people. My link below
will give you a bit more about me. One book under my belt, editing a journal on
Reiki and working on a novel right now. Be in touch.

Regards,

Steve Gooch

From: Hafiz Kheir

Sent: 05 April 2013 16:10

To: Steve Gooch

Subject: Re: Sudan Embassy

Hi Steve, and thank you so much for your email...

Hope all went well with your embassy papers(!)...

Sorry for the delay responding; I don't have a reliable net
connection here...

The wedding went good, am enjoying a lazy Cairo time with
family...

the Story of the Unity School is very interesting indeed,
and I can clearly see a documentary there!

I am reading the background and documents in the link you
sent, but lets talk a little bit more, when

I get back to my base in Virginia, to see what we can do
together...

If you're still in Cairo, maybe we can meet for Coffee and
chat one evening, before I travel back on the 10th (of April..)

You can call me on my cousin's mobile number: xxxxxxxxxxx
Cairo

All the best and let's keep it up!

Hafiz Kerr

Fri 05/04/2013 20:06

Hi Hafiz,

Glad that the wedding went fine and you are now chilling
out. Yes, got my papers sorted at the embassy eventually.

Yes, you are right, there is definitely potential for a
documentary in all that material for
sure. I think it goes deeper than we were able to investigate fully. Almost
certainly - but without any substantive evidence right now, there is another
school: KIPS (Khartoum International Preparatory School) involved in this in
the early days too - also 'stolen' it seems: not BY the church, but FROM the
church (the last I heard they are still fighting this in the courts and have
been for over 40 years now): maybe it was this that gave them the idea to take
Unity - an eye for an eye maybe? But KIPS is involved in this somehow. My ex
boss would possibly know a little more on that as she saw documents on a visit
there once that were swiftly removed from her sight by a lawyer at the school I
think...

And if KIPS IS involved - and for sure it would seem to be -
then a royal donation made by the British Monarchy in the 70's (which paid for
the building of KIPS I think) is also implicated. That donation - made by
Princess Ann seems to have largely gone missing also.

Oddly, even though we did not get a chance to search ALL the
documents held at the school, it does seem to be the case that the entire file
of minutes of various meetings in the school has disappeared - possibly now
held in the Sudan Archive at the university of Durham in the UK. That file
would cover the royal donation - possibly the argument between the Principal of
Unity at the time over monies expected to be paid or given back to her
'associate' (lover? friend? colleague?) by the school council on receipt of the
royal donation - this money was denied by the council and not long after, KIPS
was taken by someone who walked in with some documents and claimed the school
as his (forged Trust Deeds maybe?).

Anyway, the rabbit hole is deep and what you see on the
archive is the tip of the iceberg. And all of this going on in the school that
was at the centre of the international news in 2007 over the Teddy bear that
was named Mohamed. It is a MASSIVE story when you factor that into the equation
along with the royal donation and the head of the Anglican community in
Khartoum being a suspected thief!

Sadly I am not in Cairo now. I live in Alex at the moment
and am back here now. For sure get in touch any time and if you think there is
mileage in this, lets work on something. I am keen for the school to be
returned to a legal body of Trustees and for sure you could count on the
support and active participation of the Principal at the time we discovered all
this corruption: Dr Marina Hitchen.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Steve

(Note: So far this story has not been taken up by Hafez -
3rd November 2013)

2 comments:

I have to admire your resolve. Many would have shrugged their shoulders and walked away but you and Dr Marina keep on trying to get to the bottom of the scandal and I hope that your book and the documentary get made one day. I am sure that once you start making your documentary you will be given more information from the many people who have been sickened by the corruption. Good luck!

Lets hope so. This evening, I have been sitting talking to Dr Marina about the problems at Unity and how the corruption and scandal have still not been resolved. In fact the problems seem to deepen by all accounts and I have heard anecdotal information this evening that the parents of the school are raising a petition to have the current Principal removed. There was sadly an inevitability of this type of outcome in the end.

I have in my possession many documents relating to the sale and transfer of Unity High School back in the late 1930's and the problems that then ensued over the failed transfer of the properly once the sale had gone through. This problem, much of which the eventual theft of the school was based on, went on through the 1940's and the 1950's.

When I get the time to edit and crop these images from the CMS Archive in Birmingham, I will post them up here.

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Unity High School is an independent, co-educational, multi-racial school that serves the needs of pupils from various backgrounds whose parents have chosen a British-style education. Founded in 1928 but with clear historical links back to 1902, it has always, as its name implies, been open to pupils of all ethnic groups and faiths.

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